When Beverly Hills Chihuahua makes you ponder Chaucer’s use of the beast-fable, and when the layout of a nearby jungle gym—a roofed octagonal structure joined to a separate rectangular building by a long, raised corridor—reminds you of Charlemagne’s compound at Aachen, then you really do need a vacation. While I hang out with the Viking Nephew and the Levitating Niece, here are some miscellaneous doodads and worthwhile reads from around the Web.

Scott Nokes shows us what it’s like to study Old English at Troy University. Don’t be disarmed by the humor; instead, envy those students the thrill of discovery.

Jonathan Jarrett at A Corner of Tenth Century Europe contemplates books that get passed down from scholars to their students.

Adrian Murdoch notes “the most peculiar classical juxtaposition of the day,” a comparison of Hadrian and Jörg Haider.

Dame Eleanor Hull wonders if medievalists are inevitably “late bloomers.”

Ephemeral New York shows us an ornate Manhattan fountain and the mayor who took a bullet in the throat.

Jake Seliger finds Sir Walter Scott’s novel Waverley more showy than telly.

Jenn at Per Omnia Saecula points out a vivid puppet production of Dante.

New Jersey residents, go see Steven Hart discuss his book The Last Three Miles, even if he can’t deliver those kazoo-playing elephants.

Dave from Studenda Mira sends along a fine travel piece from the New York Times: the story of an arduous Shetland ramble.

Linda takes us to a chapel of St. Roch in France that’s probably safer than the shrine I visited in New Orleans back in June.

On that note, I’m off to help two tiny people reenact a Big Country video.